The first incident took place in Narathiwat's provincial seat when the naval personnel were on routine patrol duty for teacher protection in a pickup truck, escorting teachers as they travelled to school.

Driver Suthep Mokklaimun, a chief petty officer, was killed and two seamen were severely wounded. The bomb, buried underground and remotely triggered, wrecked the vehicle.

In Narathiwat's Cho AI Rong district, an army ranger volunteer was wounded in a school bombing at a school believed to be the work of insurgents. The victim was taken to hospital for treatment.

A third bombing, in Narathiwat's Chanae district, involved six Army Rangers on routine patrol providing security for teachers going to schools, but the men were unscathed as the remotely triggered bomb exploded in the opposite direction into a wooded area.

Police blamed suspected southern separatists for the bombings.

More than 5,000 people have been killed and more than 9,000 hurt in over 11,000 incidents, about 3.5 incidents a day, in Thailand's three southern border provinces-Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and four districts of Songkhla-since violence erupted in January 2004, according to Deep South Watch, which monitors the regional violence. (Xinhua-ANI)

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